Cowen Research: "The issue is what happens in August and September if the government permits expanded unemployment benefits to expire.”

Thanks to the coronavirus, it was the worst earnings for mortgage banking since the fourth quarter of 2008…

Forbearance tallies keep falling, which is good news for both servicers and consumers...

Wells Fargo was the most active servicer in repurchasing delinquent loans in May, with $2.31 billion, 50.2% of the market total. A significant share of those loans were reportedly current, the MBS disclosures show, indicating that Wells repurchased loans in forbearance.

Home-equity lending volume rose modestly in the first quarter to an estimated $49.0 billion...

On an unadjusted basis, new business increased 7.0% from the week before…

The three agencies reported a total of 1.2 million single-family loans one payment past due, or 3.03% of their combined portfolio. Ginnie’s 4.78% 30-day delinquency rate was the highest, including a 5.68% rate for FHA loans.

“The problem,” said Dave Worrall, president of LoanCare, Virginia Beach, VA, “is that servicing buyers aren’t hitting the bid.” This, in turn, forces the actual originator of the loan to keep MSRs.

Black Knight reported: “At today’s level, mortgage servicers need to advance a combined $3.5 billion a month to holders of government-backed mortgage securities on COVID-19-related forbearances."

Several REITs have not yet reported first-quarter financials, so the sector’s sell-off may have been somewhat larger.